The validity of predicted body fat percentage from body mass index and from impedance in samples of five European populations.

: Eur J Clin Nutr 2001 Nov;55(11):973-9 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut The validity of predicted body fat percentage from body mass index and from impedance in samples of five European populations. Deurenberg P, Andreoli A, Borg P, Kukkonen-Harjula K, de Lorenzo A, van Marken Lichtenbelt WD, Testolin G, Vigano R, Vollaard N. Department of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. padeu@singnet.com.sg OBJECTIVES: To test and compare the validity of a body mass index (BMI)-based prediction equation and an impedance-based prediction equation for body fat percentage among various European population groups. DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational study. SETTINGS: The study was performed in five different European centres: Maastricht and Wageningen (The Netherlands), Milan and Rome (Italy) and Tampere (Finland), where body composition studies are routinely performed. SUBJECTS: A total of 234 females and 182 males, aged 18-70 y, BMI 17.0-41.9 kg/m(2). METHODS: The reference method for body fat percentage (BF%(REF)) was either dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or densitometry (underwater weighing). Body fat percentage (BF%) was also predicted from BMI, age and sex (BF%(BMI)) or with a hand-held impedance analyser that uses in addition to arm impedance weight, height, age and sex as predictors (BF%(IMP)). RESULTS: The overall mean (+/-s.e.) bias (measured minus predicted) for BF%(BMI) was 0.2+/-0.3 (NS) and-0.7+/-0.3 (NS) in females and males, respectively. The bias of BF%(IMP) was 0.2+/-0.2 (NS) and 1.0+/-0.4 (P